Tinuviel at Hogwarts
by HamishHamilton
Summary: A generation after Harry Potter, a strange and beautiful new pair of twins appear at Hogwarts: they are Tinuviel and Thorondil, halfelven brother and sister. Their mother was an elf of Mirkwood, their father a wizard from Potters Bar. Being of mixed race, they can see and do things that others their age can't. This story began as a dream my daughter had (she was 10 at the time).
1. Chapter 1

**TINUVIEL AT HOGWARTS  
**

Tinuviel and Thorondil looked out of the window. The train had been slowing down for a while, and now came to a stop. The big, peeling sign on the platform said, 'Hogsmeade'.

'We're here,' said Tinuviel, excitedly. Her big blue eyes shone in her pale face under her long, dark hair.

'About time, said Thorondil grumpily. He had already been fighting with another child on the Hogwarts Express, who had said something about his ears (which were admittedly a bit on the big side). The combatants had given each other bloody noses before the prefects broke it up. He was blonde and hazel-eyed.

Suddenly, along the platform cake a gigantic human. He wore a huge, fury coat, sported a vast, bushy beard and hair that was pretty wild. 'What's _that_?' Tinuviel was a little scared, but she saw his eyes were laughing and kind.

'He's huge,' said Thorondil. 'Hey!' his eyes lit up, 'maybe he's a giant! I've always wanted to meet one!'

Tinuviel rolled her huge, blue eyes. Thorondil loved magical creatures, just like their dad.

'Firs' years, come wi' me!' called the huge man.

'That's us, Thor!' said Tinuviel, 'let's go!'

The twins lugged their trunks off the train and onto the platform. Thorondil's ferret chittered, the Tinuviel's owl sat quitely.

'Leave yer luggage there,' called the giant. 'The porters will take it up to Hogwarts for ye. Now, Firs'-years? Are ye all here?' He looked at the small crowd of young faces, then turned about, saying, 'Follow me!' It was easy for the 11-year-olds to someone so tall, everyone could see him. He led them down the platform, through a gate to a long flight of stone steps, painted white on the edges. The evening deepened as they climbed down, and the street-lights shone yellow. They came to a long jetty along a river, where the giant addressed them again: 'My name is Rubeus Hagrid, in case none of you know of me, yet. I'm the Care of Magical Creatures Master.' Thorondil pumped his fist, saying 'Yes!' under his breath. Tinuviel snickered.

The huge teacher continued, 'All first-years ride to boats to Hogwarts. Please climb in carefully, four to a boat only, and no fooling around! It's not too soon to get detention!'

The children all climbed into the small, wooden boats, Thor and Tinny noticed they were all tied together with long ropes. When they were all in, Professor Hagrid tapped his boat's prow with a funny little pink umbrella, and it pulled away, drawing all the other boats along behind him. The river ran into a lake, and they saw Hogwarts Castle on the other side, splendid with birght lights in every window. It was a beautiful sight!

The boats went right underneath it, through a curain of willow branches, to a large cave where they all got out at another long jetty. The climbed a long flight of stairs up into the castle. At the top of the stairs stood a a very strict-looking witch in midnight-blue robe and hat. They all lined up in front of her. 'Good evening, children; I am Professor Passmore.' There wasn't a sound as she watched them line up.

'In a few minutes we will go through these doors behind me, for our welcome feast. Before you can sit down, you must be sorted into your houses. Now, when I call, you will come up to the front of the hall, I will place the Sorting Hat on your heads and it will tell you which House you should go to. Now, wait here,' and she went into the Great Hall. In a few seconds she opened the door and they all filed in.

The Sorting was just as Tinny and Thor were expecting; they were excited as Professor Passmore worked through the alphabetical list. When she read out, 'Hardcastle, Thorondil!' Thor leapt up and nearly tripped on his long robe (their mum had got long ones to allow for growth) on his way to be Sorted. The Sorting Hat descended, nearly covering his face. After a few seconds it called out 'Ravenclaw!' and Thor joined the table under the blue and silver banner.

Tinny managed a lot more dignity when she went to be sorted. The Sorting Hat did cover her face, and she heard it voice saying 'Another one! You must be twins, your minds are unlike anything I've ever seen before. You really don't seem old enough to be here... but since you're both so bright, it had better also be -' and it shouted out loud, '- Ravenclaw!' and Tinny skipped down to join her brother.

When the Sorting was over, Professor Passmore went up to the staff table. Then the Headmistress stood up: she wore a bit, emerald hat and a long emerald robe. Her hair was snowy white, pinned up under her hat; it was Professor McGonagall.

'Welcome all,' she said in a quavery, old voice. 'I have a few announcements to make before we start our feast. As usual, please note that there is to be no magic practiced outside of classrooms, and that the Dark Forest is strictly out of bounds. Also, because our Seamstress is retiring a Halloween the year, any uniform repairs will have to be handed in before then – we do not as yet have anyone to take over.' She looked down at the Ravenclaw table. 'A special welcome to our new first-years,' she said, 'We expect great things from this group.'

So, the new school year began. Although Tinny and Thor didn't really need them, they had new wands in the human style: African wild-olive wood with their mother's hair inside. Because they were halfelven, they were visibly smaller and less mature than the rest of the students, though they were still more clever than most. It took only a day and a half before their ears became widely noted. They had to explain them to others at least three times each.

The Twins' mother had come from another world (perhaps even another universe), when an experiment by one of their wise had opened a bubble between their world and Earth. It had sucked the mage's whole house into our world before popping, leaving them stranded in Hertfordshire for twelve years. By the time the mage had worked out how to go back home, and gathered enough energy to achieve it, his daughter had met and fallen in love with a wizard, a breeder of magical creatures called Robert Hardcastle. He and Miriel had married, and Tinuviel and Thorondil were there first set of twins. Miriel stayed on Earth whil her family returned, but they visited every year, for a week around mid-summer and another around Christmas. Her father had worked out how to make the bubbles more easily.

The first term went well until about a week before the Christmas break. Thorondil had become a bit touchy about his appearance, with the boys always saying something about his ears. When Scorpius Malfoy, a Slytherin, called him an 'overgrown house-elf', it had ended badly for him. Though shorter, Thor had landed a beauty of a punch on his nose. In the resulting scuffle, Thor's robe was ripped and bloodied. By the time the Potions master had broken it up, a large crowd had gathered in the corridor and they both got detention. Tinny saw the whole thing and thought, 'Oh no, mum's going to kill him! His uniform's torn all the way down one side!' For the last two days of term, Thor had to wear his other robe (even when he got a custard stain on it), because there was no seamstress at the school. He even had to wear it on the train home. At least he could change on the train.

Their mother was alone in the crowd on Platform 9 ¾ at King's Cross when the train pulled in. After hugging them both she led them out to the muggle part of the station, to get another train home.

'Where are the little ones, mum?' asked Tinny as they slid through the turnstile, pushing their luggage. She spoke in Sindarin, their home language.

'Your father is away in South Africa,' she said, 'if you remember, looking at a new breed of Nifflers. I thought it better to leave the twins and little Mardil with your granny. Travelling with toddling twins _and_ a baby in a buggy isn't much fun, especially when we have to be unnoticed.' Their mother's ears were hidden under a wooly hat, and she wore long trousers and boots, which was most unlike her. She favoured medieval-looking dresses at home.

They maneuvered their trunks onto the platform for Potters Bar. For some time now, Thor hadn't said much, but Tinny knew mum would have to be told about his uniform disaster sooner rather than later. She caught his eye and nodded significantly. Thor looked sour as he muttered, 'Er, I, um, my uniform got torn.'

'What's that, dear?' Mum said calmly. She knew this tone, and hoped it wasn't serious.

'My uniform robe got torn,' Thorondil admitted more loudly.

'Oh, that's just great,' mum said with a long-suffering sigh. 'I hope I can mend it, or we're going to have to buy a new one, in Diagon Alley.'

Thor looked hopeful.

'Don't push your luck, we are _not_ going to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.'

The last time Thor had gone to the joke shop, the half-elf had eaten Puking Pastilles and vomited all over the shop before the manager could whisk it away with his wand.

Back home for the holidays, time seemed to fly by. Tinny and Thor spoke their mother's language, Sindarin, all the time, with their grandparents visiting. _Altar ar' Altara_ were just as fair and merry as ever – they never changed, even as their human grandparents became grey and deaf.

Thor's grandfather Celebtil told him that he was old enough in the reckoning of the Eldar to get his first bow. He wanted him to come with them next summer to start practicing in the archery range, and to start learning woodcraft. All elf boys started learning archery as soon as they were teenagers.

Thor couldn't wait to go, but first he had to finish Hogwarts. Then he would be old enough to begin his education on the other side of the bubble. In the meantime, he hadn't even finished his first year.

Before they knew it, New Year was over, the twins' dad had gone back to South Africa; and then their mum remembered Thor's robe. It was a dead loss, torn right through.

'Darn,' said mum quietly. 'I forgot all about this with the Christmas rush. We'll have to got to Gringott's on our own.' Her face showed some disgust.

'What's wrong with that, mum?' Tinny asked.

'I just can't stand Goblins,' mum replied. 'I'd love to be able to send you both in yourselves, but you're just too young. I'll just have to hold my nose and get on with it.' She grinned.

'I could do it,' Thor said, confidently. Mum just smiled.

So, leaving the younger twins, Sara and Dorveg, with their grandparents, and pushing baby Mardil in his buggy, they took the train to London. When they came to the street where the Leaky Cauldron was, mum had to command the place to show itself to her, since like a muggle she couldn't see it. The twins however, could see it easily. They went through to the hidden entrance behind the pub, trundling the buggy over the cold, wet cobblestones to the shiny white bank at the end of Diagon Alley.

It was an effort to pull the buggy up the bank stairs, and once inside, little Mardil began niggling and fussing after all the bumping. By the time they had spoken to the Goblins, he was crying loudly, and people were looking at them. There was no way Mum was going to take a crying baby on the roller-coaster cocopans through the vaults. As she took the baby out to comfort him, she said, 'Thor, you said you could go and get our money out of the vault – now's your chance. We just need 7 galleons, that should last us until your father gets home, and pay for a new robe for you.'

Tinny wasn't very happy, but at least her tough brother was there. Mum said, 'Tinny, please make sure your brother doesn't jump out of the cocopan, or touch anything he shouldn't.' Tinny immediately felt more grown-up with a bit of responsibility.

So, the twins followed the Gringotts goblin. He really was an ugly creature, and only a little taller than themselves.

Tinny was scared by the ride, but Thor seemed to enjoy it. The goblin stopped at their vault and opened it with a tap of his claw. Their vault wasn't that full at the moment. It had a lot of silver sickles and bronze knuts, with a little pile of big, golden coins at the far end.

The goblin handed them a sack. 'Thank you,' said Thorondil and went to the pile. Tinny counted out 7 of the gold coins and put them in the sack while Thor held it. 'Yow,' he said, 'this gold is heavy!'

They left only 2 galleons in the vault. When the door was swinging closed, Tinny said, 'Look!' and pointed up. There, just below the rocky ceiling, floated a handful of mostly bronze coins. 'Hey!' called Thor, 'Some of our money's escaping!'


	2. Chapter 2

If that had been the only occurrence, they might have thought they were seeing things; but it wasn't. On the way out they saw several more small flocks of coins floating along the ceiling. They pointed it out each time, but he obviously couldn't see them. They gave up trying to convince him. The coins floated from different directions, like leaves on the surface of a stream.

Back in the fancy lobby of Gringotts, Mum had quietened baby Mardil, who was now gurgling happily in his buggy. Thor lugged the clanking sack of coins along and they all made their way back down the stairs outside.

They had got to the door of Madam Malkin's when Tinny said, 'Mum, Thor and I saw money floating out of Gringott's, but the goblin couldn't.'

Mum stopped and said, 'Money floating?'

'Yes,' said Tinny, 'it just floated out of our vault just as the door was closing. It was just a few coins.'

'Then,' puffed Thor, 'and then, we saw lots of other coins, floating from other passages!' He was still lugging the heavy bag of money.

'And the goblin couldn't see it?' Mum took the bag from him and dropped the coins into a magical purse, bigger inside than out.

'No,' said the twins together.

'And,' said mum, looking flustered, 'you're not mistaken, I mean – you're sure it was money?'

'No!' said Tinny, indignant.

'Yes!' said Thor, impatient.

'Do you see any out here?' Mum asked. The twins looked up, and back towards the bank. There was none. They just shook their heads.

'Well,' Mum said, 'we can't worry about that now.' Just then, a shop assistant came out to meet them, and they were busy with Thorondil's new robe for some time.

They didn't talk about the floating money for the resat of the holidays. Mum had her hands full with five children, and dad in another country. Their grandparents came to give them a lift to Kings Cross Station, the Tuesday after the Friday they'd seen the money floating.

The spring term at Hogwarts was plodding along, with the weather soggy and and cold. Tinny won Ravenclaw a lot of points for clever in class, and Thor got detention twice for fighting: though he also won some points, too. Tinny asked him once, 'Do you _like_ fighting?'

'I won't let them get away with calling me a house-elf,' said Thor. 'Nor you!'

'But no-one calls me a house-elf,' said Tinny.

'See?' grinned Thor. 'It works!'

Hogwarts Castle was a cold, dank, draughty place. Each classroom had its own fireplace, but that didn't stop them from being pretty miserable all the way through to March. Once excpetion was the Charms classroom, where Professor Diggle always used a Toasty Charm to keep the heat in.

The Ravenclaws were in a Charms class. They had mastered Levitation charms during the autumn, and now they were learning Translation charms.

'The difference between Translation and Levitation,' Professor Diggle said, 'is that Levitation is used only in a small area, or on items you can hold in your hand – where Translation is much more powerful. It moves things up and along in the direction you point, so – ' and he pointed his wand at his desk, where a box of buttons had been carelessly emptied out – 'Vaddi,' he said, and all the buttons floated up, and soared through the air to Griselda Shunt's desk, where they landed with a quiet clatter.

Tinny and Thor looked at each other. They both recognised the way the buttons had moved – a kind of rippling float, just like the coins that had floated out of their bank vault!

'Professor,' Tinny said, raising her hand, 'Can you make that spell automatic, like something that happens without anyone being there?'

Professor Diggle simply said, 'No,' and went on with the lesson. When the bell tolled, however, he said, 'Tinuviel, a word please.' Thor lingered over his packing up, hoping to listen in.

'I just remembered,' said the Charms Master, 'that a spell can be cast by another spell, under certain conditions, but it takes a very powerful magician to do it. Why do you ask?'

'It's just that Thor and I saw money floating along like that, in Gringotts Bank, once. But only we could see it.'

The Professor blinked. 'Did you tell anyone?'

'We told our mum, but we were busy and had to rush off to Madam Malkin's.'

'Hmm,' the Professor smoothed his moustache. 'I'll have to think about this. Let me ask around, and we might talk about this again.'

It was mid-January, and there was slush all over the castle. Proffesor Diggle called the twins into his office. To their surprise, the principal was there, too.

'Come in, Thorondil and Tinuviel,' said Prof Diggle. 'I've contacted your mum, who confirmed your story. She gave me permission to get everything in writing, so we're going to ask you questions, and I'll write down the answers, OK?'

The twins nodded. This looked quite serious. Professor Diggle pointed his wand at a quill, which floated up, dipped itself in ink and moved to the top of a sheet of paper.

'Now, children, when did this happen – the floating money, I mean?'

After a pause for thought, Thor said, 'It was the Friday after New Year.'

The quill scratched and wiggled its way across the paper, recording everything that was said. Professor McGonagall said, 'The third of January.'

Professor Diggle continued, 'Why had you come to Diagon Alley?'

'We went to get a new school robe for Thor,' said Tinny.

'Where did you go first, when you got to Diagon Alley?'

'To the bank.'

'To Gringotts?'

'Yes.'

'Good, thank you. Now, you said you saw money floating in the air. Where did you see that?'

'We first saw it at our vault,' said Tinny.

'Where was it?'

'It was coming out of _our_ vault,' said Thor.

'Did you tell anyone?'

'We told the goblin,' said Tinny.

'And your mother?'

There was an awkward pause. 'She wasn't there,' said Thor in a small voice.

'She wasn't there?' said Professor McGonagall.

Tinny looked unhappy, so Thor said, 'Our baby brother started crying and making a noise. So she sent us to get the money while she quietened him down.'

'Oh,' said Professor McGonagall. Tinny looked unhappy, so Thor said, 'Our baby brother had started crying and making a noise. So she sent us to get the money while she quietened him down.'

'Oh,' said the principal again. 'I see, you two went in the cart with the Gringotts goblin?'

'Yes,' said Thor. The quill continued its mad scratching.

'So,' Porfessor Diggle said, looking at his notes, 'What happened next? Did you see where your money went?'

'It just – floated out,' said Thor.

'Towards –?' prompted Professor Diggle.

'Back along the passage we came,' answered Thor.

'And you say the Gringott's goblin couldn't see it?'

'No,' the twins said in unison.

'Did you try to tell him again?'

'Quite a few times,' said Tinny. 'We saw other coins floating, but he still couldn't see.'

Professor McGonagall spoke again. 'What kind of coins were they?'

'Mostly coppers, Professor,' said Thor.

'And were did the coins go?' asked Professor Diggle again.

There was a pause. The twins said, again in unison, 'We don't know.' Tinny added, 'We couldn't see it after we got to the end of the rails.'

'You didn't see them in the fancy building itself?'

The twins said, 'No,' again, but not together.

The professors looked at each other. 'I think that should be it,' said Professor Diggle.

The Headmistress shook her head briefly. 'Your mother, children,' she said, 'She's from another world, isn't she?'

'From Middle-Earth,' said Thor.

'Could she see the coins?'

'She wasn't looking,' said Thor.

'She was busy with the baby,' said Tinny.

'Do you think she could have seen them, if she had looked?'

'Mm – no,' said Tinny.

'Why is that?'

'Because she can't see the Leaky Cauldron either, without commanding it to reveal itself, explained Tinny, 'But we can.'

The two professors were silent awhile. Then Professor McGonagall said, 'Thank you children, you may go now.'

'Whew,' went Tinny when she was outside again.

'Sounds like they're taking us seriously,' said Thor, 'But, I'd like to find out about those spells that call other spells, myself. I don't trust the teachers to get our story straight.'

'Have you read _Hogwarts: A History_?' asked Tinny.

'We read it in the first week, remember?' The twins read much faster than most people they knew.

'Well,' said Tinny, 'I remember a list of famous Hogwarts Professors. One of them developed a treasure-finding spell. I'll have a look in the Library for something about him.'

'And I think I'll look up about Goblins, and see if I can find out anything about thieving spells,' said Thor with determination.

'If you're looking up goblins, best start with 'A Goblin Introduction' by Tara Sackville,' said Tinny. 'It'll be good to have you in the library as well, Thor – for a change!' Then she thought a bit and said, 'Why do you want to look up goblins, anyway?'

'Because one of the Gringotts ones might be the thief!'

it was scarcely a week later that the twins were at breakfast in the Great Hall and Thor saw a small headline on someone's Daily Prophet: 'Fraud at Gringotts – Allegation'. Standing behind the senior holding the paper, Thor read the article very quickly. It was only a small one, saying that 'sources' had revealed that there had been an accusation of 'improper accounting' on the part of an account holder at Gringott's Bank. It could have something to do with the floating money – or then again it might not.

However, at the end of breakfast, Professor Passmore called them both. Her face was even grimmer than usual as she said, 'You are both wanted at the Principal's Office. Come with me, now.'

She swept off along the corridors, the twins following her nervously. They came to a large gargoyle on the wall, and Professor Passmore murmured a password at it. To the twins' surprise, the gargoyle sprang to life and moved aside, revealing a doorway. Professor Passmore led the twins in. Before they even had time to wonder where they were, they saw Professor McGonagall behind a desk, and sitting next to her were: 'Mata i Atta!' the twins cried in unison, 'Mum and Dad!'

The twins' mother beamed at them, and her smile lit up the room. Professor Diggle was also there, looking concerned, as was their dad.

'Hello, children,' said Professor McGonagall. 'Come and sit with your parents. We're expecting a visitor who wants to talk to you about that floating money.'

The adults chatted quitely for a minute, then Professor Passmore excused herself and left. She returned very soon afterward with a rather serious-looking wizard.

'Good morning, everyone,' he said gravely. 'I am Sherriff Terry Bulger of the DMLE. I have read Professor Diggle's recording of the interview,' he nodded to the Charms Master, 'thank you Professor. Now,' he sat in a chair facing the twins, 'It seems we have two very special young people here. I would like to know how it is that they see things others don't.'

'We have noticed,' the twins' mother said, 'that they aren't fooled by camouflage charms. When they were toddlers they were always able to find the cookie jar.' The twins smiled at the memory, instantly feeling less nervous.

The Sherriff also smiled. 'That's interesting. Professors, could we please test some occulting charms?'

'Yes,' said Professor McGonagall, 'here's one I prepared earlier. Tinny and Thor, what is this?' she pointed at an object on her desk. The adults all saw a small ornamental brass bell, but the twins saw – 'A dragon statue,' said Thor.

Professor McGonagall waved her wand at it, and the charm was lifted. 'That was a Camouflage Charm,' she said.

'What have I in my hand?' asked Professor Diggle. To the adults it seemed empty.

'An ink-bottle,' said Tinny. Amazed, she asked of everyone, 'Can't you see it?'

'Of course I can,' said Thor. Professor Diggle smiled and shook his head. He tapped it with his wand, and it became visible to everyone.

'That was an Invisibility spell,' he said.

Sherriff Bulger pointed his wand at the wall behind the twins' mum and dad. 'Can you tell me, you two, how many pictures are on that wall?'

The whole Hardcastle family turned round to look. 'I only see five blotches,' said Tinny.

'I see four,' said Thor, 'and another fuzzy, round shape.'

'I see all of them clearly,' said Mrs Hardcastle, smugly.

'That was an Obscurity curse,' said Sherriff Bulger. He drew a circle with his wand, and four small portraits and an oval, sepia-tinted photograph shimmered into view.

'What's this?' asked Professor Diggle, with a twinkle in his eye, holding out his hand.

Thor shook his head. Tinny said, 'I can't see anything!'

Professor Diggle chuckled, 'That's right, there's nothing there.' The twins grinned.

'This should be an interesting test,' said Professor McGonagall. She pointed her wand at another small ink-bottle on her desk, and it vanished. 'Can you still see it?'

'No!' said Tinny. Thor just shook his head again.

'Interesting,' said the Headmistress. 'That was a Vanishing Spell. No-one's quite sure where things to when they're Vanished, but if you can't see it, that ink-bottle must have physically gone, too.' There was an awkward silence as everyone seemed to have run out of questions.

'Does anyone have any other suggestions?' asked Sherriff Bulger.

'Well,' said Professor Diggle, 'the Invisibility spell is the basis of all Invisibility magic. If they can see through that, I doubt there's much that can be hidden from these two.'

'Mrs Hardcastle,' he turned to the twins' mother, 'may I ask,' he blushed as the elf-woman looked at him gravely, 'could you see through those spells?'

'I could see through the Camouflage Charm if I altered my perception,' she answered in her low voice, 'and if I knew where to look, I could command the invisibel ink-well to reveal itself; I could see the Barrier curse, but it didn't obscure anything to me.' She wore an ankle-length dress, as she always did outside the home. Now, she crossed her arms and legs and was about to say something when Mr Hardcastle said to the Sherriff, 'I would like to know the point of this exercise, Sherriff.'

The Sherriff cleared his throat and said, 'As you may know, there has been an investigation at Gringott's Bank into an allegation of theft from one of the vaults. The source of the allegation was Professor Diggle here. I have been sent from the Department for Magical Law Enforcement to establish the reliability of the sole witnesses in this case, your children.'

Mr Hardcastle said, 'Surely you have the copy of Professor Diggle's interview?'

'The Hogwarts report didn't explain the childrens' unique abilities. Now, I have done so, and there should be no further need for any questions.'

'I should hope not!' said Mrs Hardcastle. 'If I may suggest something, Sherriff, it might be worth investigating those goblins at the bank. Where I come from, putting goblins in charge of money is like putting a fox in charge of chickens!'

No-one wanted to point out that, in her world, Elves were the greatest, most beautiful and wisest people, while in this one they were tiny slaves; or that in her world, Men had yet to discover gunpowder, while only Hobbits had windmills.

'Er, yes ma'rm,' said the Sherriff.

It was a bright but overcast day when they left the Principal's Office and went outside. The twins would normally have been in class, but since it was to have been Professor Diggle's class anyway, they probably weren't missing anything. The twins wandered down to the front doors of the castle with their mum and showed her the Great Hall. They went out through the fron doors then, showing her the view with the lake on the right and the Forbidden Forest on the left. In the distance, coming up the road frgom the castle gates, were two wizards wearing dark blue robes, just like those of the Sherriff. Thorondil was telling his mum about their journey across the lake on their first night, and the lights from the castle, when mum suddenly said, 'Hold on, Thorondil.' She looked over the distance towards the approaching wizards. She seemed to be concentrating.

Suddenly, changing to her own language, she said, 'Thorondil and Tinuviel, I can teach you another way to become invisible. It's not the best situation, but it's quite easy. Give me your hands.' She held Thorondil's right hand and Tinuviel's left.

'Now, think with me,' she said, and the twins felt her blend into her surroundings, the cold stone and sunlight of the doorway. All of a sudden, though they could still see her, they didn't seem to notice her anymore. It was so clever and cunning, if they didn't know where to look, they would have missed her completely!

'Now you try,' she said.

The twins tried to copy her. Suddenly, Tinuviel just blended into the doorway herself! Thorondil tried a bit longer, then he did, too!

'Hey, cool!' Thorondil said. 'That's way better than that clunky invisibility spell!' Then he found that he'd become visible again.

'Don't talk, Thor,' said his mother, urgently now. 'It breaks the effect.' She turned them around and shooed them out of the doorway. 'Now, do it again, and keep quiet,' she said, then turned back to the door, where the wizards were approaching the stairs.

'What are you doing here?' she called, sharply. The wizards jumped and had their wands out in a flash.

'Where did you come from?' one of them said.

'I have been here the whole time,' Miriel Hardcastle said, quite truthfully. 'Now, please answer my question.'

The other wizard said, 'We are looking for someone in connection with theft at Gringott's Bank. There have been some irregularities, and we have some questions for him.' They had come up only a few steps, and now stopped, facing the elf above. 'Are you a teacher here?'

'I am a parent,' said Mrs Hardcastle.

'Are you Mrs Hardcastle?' asked the first wizard.

The twins' mother didn't answer. Instead, she blended back into her surroundings. Then, she did something else the twins could see but not understand; and all of a sudden, the wizards whipped around as if she had run down the stairs past them. They ran down the path a short way, as if trying to follow her, then one of them said, 'Never mind her, it's the husband we want!'

Miriel looked at the twins, holding her finger up to her lips. She came and stood next to them in the doorway and waited, while the Law Enforcement wizards hurried past. Thor stifled a giggle, and when Tinny saw him, she did, too. Their mother silenced them with a look, and followed after the wizards at a distance.

'Do you remember where the Principal's Office is?' asked one.

'Yes, but we'll need a password, or at least to be invited in.'

'Do you think we should change back?'

The two wizards stopped. What was going on? 'Yes,' said the other.

They dropped their wands and shrugged off their cloaks. They then touched their ring-fingers together, and with a sizzling sound, their forms shimmered and shifted, until two goblins stood where the wizards had been before. They wore tough leather clothes and big, heavy boots, and they were short – only about as tall as Mrs Hardcastle.

'It might be better to get those kids first.'

It was too much for the twins' mother. 'Oh, you think so?' Her face was furious, as she grew blue lightning around both hands.

One hand shot lightning at the nearest goblin, but the goblins were fast. Warned by her speaking, one of them blocked her lightning, while the other conjured up green flame, without a wand. The flames formed themselves into a cord, which bound Mrs Hardcastle's wrists together.

' _Wingardium leviosa_!' cried Thorondil. It was one of the few spells he knew. The goblin that had blocked mum's lightning suddenly wailed as he floated up into the air. Unfortunately, Thor was now very visible. The other goblin sent new green-flame cords to bind him as well, be he dodged and squirmed to fast that they couldn't get around him. Instead, they looped around his wand, which was pulled from his hand and suspended in mid-air.

Without his wand, Thor couldn't maintain his levitation charm. The goblin he'd levitated fell to the ground with a crash, knocking his head, and rolled over unconscious.

But, Thorondil couldn't dodge forever. The green-flame cords now had him, tying his arms tight to his sides.

Tinuvial was in a fix. Fortunately, there was a trick her mother had taught them, to deal with dangerous animals or over-enthusiastic dogs. She clapped her hands together, springing them apart to release an electric shock, which flashed into the remaining goblin. Unexpectedly, he fell, unconscious. The cords binding Thor and his mother flickered and fell away, then disappeared.

'Yes!' shouted Thorondil.

' _Mae tuvalie!_ ' cried mum, 'Well done!' She hugged them both, as teachers and students suddenly appeared from all directions in response to the noise and the thunder.

'What's going on?' called Professor Longbottom, the Herbology Master. A veteran of the war against Voldemort, he had his wand out.

'These goblins are invaders,' said Mrs Hardcastle. The goblins groaned and stirred, holding their bruised heads. The twins' mother conjured up her own magic cords, blue but not flaming, and bound their hands together. 'They entered as Law Enforcement wizards – but I heard they wanted to get my children, Tinuviel and Thorondil!'

The Headmistress suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs. The twins' dad leapt down towards them, closely followed by Professor Diggle and the Sherriff.

'I think we've found the goblins who were stealing the money, Professor!' called Tinny.


End file.
